Wednesday night's announcement that many student organizations face 14-percent budget cuts for next year has University administrators and the chair of the Student Organizations Finance Committee offering differing explanations for the problem. Meanwhile, the decision has left student groups upset and scrambling for cash.
Since 1971, SOFC's budget has been increased at a rate comparable to inflation. However, Trinity sophomore and SOFC chair Ellen Peterson announced at Wednesday's Duke Student Government meeting that Provost John Strohbehn had decided to stray from this precedent by ordering a smaller increase.
But Strohbehn made no such decision, said Jim Roberts, vice provost for budgets and planning. In fact, he explained, this year's SOFC budget increase is in line with the rate of inflation. The increase to $64.00 is a 2.9 percent increase, which, he said, is actually slightly greater than the 2.7 percent inflation rate projected by the Congressional Budget Office.
"I was told that it was less than inflation," Peterson said. "It's less than we would normally get."
Roberts and Peterson also reported a difference in this year's fee, affecting their estimates of the increase in the fee. Roberts said the SOFC portion of this year's student activity fee is $62.20, but Peterson said it is $62.50.
Another part of the problem, Peterson said, was an overestimation last year of the number of students who would be paying this year's activity fee. SOFC estimates its budget based on the projected number of paying students multiplied by the fee.
Because of the overestimation, most student groups received a large increase this year. When the overestimation became apparent, SOFC had to dip into its DSG-mandated reserve fund.
Had this miscalculation not occurred last year, Peterson said, next year's smaller increase in the fee may not have caused as great an impact as it did. Because of the lower estimate of the number of paying students, the overall amount of money available to student groups decreased from this year, despite the increase in the fee.
"Last year's number was overestimated, and to prevent this type of over-budgeting, the SOFC used a more conservative estimate this year," said Brian Denton, assistant dean of University Life and DSG's adviser.
Many groups now face difficult decisions, because maintaining the same level of programming will require more group-based fundraising, organization leaders said.
SOFC's budget process mandates that student groups generate at least 25 percent of their own funds. Trinity junior Tobie Wilder, president of the Black Student Alliance, said this year's operating cost for BSA will likely be about $70,000, but SOFC allocated $22,704.90 to the organization. Next year, BSA will receive $19,709. "The organization's leadership will have to spend a good deal of time in fiscal planning and fundraisers," he said.
The Community Service Center also suffered losses for next year. Dealing with the cuts is "going to be hard," said Trinity junior Carrie Daymont, the CSC's student co-director. "At the same time that we're working to expand our programming and reach more people, it is difficult to have our budget cut," she said.
One organization not hurt by the budget cuts is The Chanticleer, which received a 10 percent increase from this year. The student yearbook is not required to generate any of its own funds. "Twenty-five percent for something like The Chanticleer was excessive and would damage the artistic quality of the publication," said Trinity senior Garrick Stewart, chair of the Undergraduate Publications Board. Because of the University's commitment to maintaining a free yearbook, the only way for The Chanticleer to raise funds would be to sell advertisements on the pages.
Stewart said this year's increase results from an annual 10 percent increase in publication costs.
Additionally, SOFC reviews each year's yearbook and assesses the validity of the next year's budget request. "DSG is not required to grant The Chanticleer 100 percent of what it requests," Denton said. "But The Chanticleer is not required to raise 25 percent of its own budget."
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